NASA -
NASA Pondering a Future Grapple on the James Webb Space Telescope

There's a problem with your browser or settings.

Your browser or your browser's settings are not supported. To get the best experience possible, please download a compatible browser. If you know your browser is up to date, you should check to ensure that
javascript is enabled.

Feature

Text Size

NASA Pondering a Future Grapple on the James Webb Space Telescope

05.31.07

When it launches in 2013 the James Webb Space Telescope will settle in an orbit roughly one million miles from the Earth. That distance is currently too far for any astronaut or any other existing NASA servicing capability to reach. Therefore, NASA is doing everything necessary to design and test the telescope on the ground using techniques that will ensure that it deploys and operates reliably in space.

Image right: This is an artist's rendition of the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA Click on image to view animation Caption for animation: JWST is designed to make observations in the far visible to the mid-infrared part of the spectrum. This wavelength coverage is different from that of the HST, which covers the range from the ultraviolet to the near infrared. JWST will have a primary mirror diameter more than twice as large as HST giving it much more light gathering capability. JWST will also operate much farther from Earth giving it much simplified operations and pointing requirements compared with HST. JWST is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope; JWST is planned for launch next decade. Credit: Northrop Grumman

However, NASA is looking into just how feasible it might be to perform emergency servicing operations on the Webb telescope if such a need were to arise and if such a servicing capability were to become available sometime in the future.

"We are currently studying the possibility of adding a lightweight grapple fixture to JWST," said John Decker, Deputy Associate Director of the JWST Project at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "A grapple fixture is a kind of a grab bar that would afford a means for a future manned or robotic servicing capability to safely attach to the telescope in space."

Once the engineers who are assessing the feasibility of adding the grapple feature have concluded the study, they will present the results to NASA Headquarters. At that time, there will be a determination as to whether the grapple feature will be added to the telescope. The assessment will finalize in 2008.

Image left: This is an artist's rendition of the James Webb Space Telescope orbiting the
second Lagrange point (L2) of the Sun-Earth system. The L2 point is approximately 1.5 million kilometers (approximately 930,000 miles) from Earth, outside the orbit of the Moon. The region about L2 is a gravitational saddle point, where spacecraft may remain at roughly constant distance from the Earth throughout the year by small station-keeping maneuvers. Click image to enlarge. Credit: NASA

The James Webb Space Telescope is a 21st century space observatory that will peer back more than 13 billion years in time to understand the formation of galaxies, stars and planets and the evolution of our own solar system. It is expected to launch in 2013. The telescope is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.